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InuYasha is an enormously popular anime based upon the similarly popular manga of the same name by Rumiko Takahashi. The show ran for seven seasons (167 episodes) on Japanese television; the series ended in September 2004. [adult swim] aired the final episode of a very decent English-language dub in October 2006 and continued to air it in the very early Sunday morning slot almost continuously (the only other show to have run longer on [as] is Cowboy Bebop) until 2014. In Canada, the dub aired on YTV where it was one of the channel's most popular anime shows. Inuyasha and several other supporting characters from the show appear in the Massive Multiplayer Crossover game Sunday VS Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen.

Japanese Ordinary Middle School Student Kagome Higurashi, granddaughter of a Shinto priest, has the ability to climb down into an ancient well on the grounds of her grandfather's shrine and, in doing so, Time Travel to allegedly-feudal-Japan; this sounds cool until you learn that demons, goblins, vengeful ghosts, malevolent wizard-priests, short-tempered twelve-foot-tall ogres, and all manner of other creepy-crawlies are everywhere and you can barely swing your arms without hitting one of them. Significantly, this is one of the few Japanese fantasy anime that isn't set in a pseudo-medieval-European fantasy world; just about everything in it is based on Japanese myths and legends. Another noteworthy difference from most anime is that almost all of the characters who are supposed to be Japanese humans are actually depicted with black hair, instead of other Hair Colors.

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On her first trip through the well, Kagome meets Inuyasha, an obnoxious, abrasive, arrogant half-demon teenage boy with long flowing white hair and super-cute doggy ears on top of his head. (His father, a dog-demon of some kind, had a taste for human women.) Inuyasha, needless to say, actually has a heart of gold, though he requires Kagome's insistence to do good deeds. You all knew that was coming, didn't you? Right? Right.

Kagome happens to be the reincarnation of the miko that Inuyasha once loved fifty years in his past, who just happened to be the one who fired a sacred arrow which sealed him to a sacred tree and essentially killed him. Kagome's arrival in the past is pivotal in that she is the one who releases Inuyasha from this "death" by pulling the arrow from his chest; her connection with his past love allows her to perform this otherwise impossible feat.

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The small-scale structure of the story is episodic, with many a Monster of the Week (usually literally a monster). However, in addition to the romance angle between Inuyasha and Kagome, there is an overarching plot about Kagome and her adventuring companions wandering pseudo-medieval-Japan in order to collect the pieces of the shattered Shikon no Tama/Jewel of Four Souls, which eventually turns into a struggle against the Big Bad — the evil incarnate that is Naraku, a human-turned-demon that seeks the Shikon Jewel in order to taint it and become a full-fledged demon with powers far beyond anything any demon has ever known, and whose plotting turns out to be behind just about all of the miseries that have befallen every main character. Over the course of the series, Inuyasha and company confront Naraku several times, but each time he gets away, gaining more shards of the Jewel — and an extra power or two — in the process. Forcing Inuyasha to gain a new power as well just to ward off Naruku's attacks. Rise, rinse, and repeat till its conclusion.

The original manga eventually reaches a resolution, but it takes its sweet time to do so (fifty-six books when the main plot would really need only, say, twenty), and the anime was Cut Short with no proper ending due in large part to actually catching up with the production of the manga and running out of episodal stories to do. The 26-episode anime series InuYasha: The Final Act picks up where the original anime left off and covers the remaining chapters of the manga through to the story's conclusion.

You can find dubbed and subtitled versions of both InuYasha and The Final Act on Hulu and the first two seasons of the original series on Netflix. The show (in dubbed form) aired from 2002-2014 (over a decade!) on [adult swim] (and, later, the revived Toonami block, which aired The Final Act from 2014-2015), becoming one of the first big hits for the block, and the series is now considered a classic gateway anime series for many in the US.

InuYasha provides examples of:

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A-F

0% Approval Rating: Naraku, he's so terrible, that his own minions, most of whom are made of his own flesh, despise him and several actively seek to overthrow him. That's right, he's so bad that his own body parts hate him.

24-Hour Armor: Sesshomaru and Koga never go anywhere without their armor. Given that Inuyasha's fire-rat robe is supposed to double as armour, he never goes anywhere without it either. Sango also keeps hers on hand everywhere she goes, whether or not she's actually wearing it.

There exists a series of parody clips that were made before the abridged craze, and they are probably the most well-known for InuYasha.

There is also ITAS, an Abridged Inuyasha done by ICanadianJutsuI, Scarlotte (ep 1-8), Shallirica (ep 9-present), and Dimensioncr8r (ep 9-present). of YouTube and hosted on the former's channel which is here and here.Also here. It's quite funny and currently has 10 episodes. The guy who's doing it is on his ELEVENTH YT channel. There's also Inuyasha The Real World. Check it out!

Accidentally Broke the MacGuffin: Near the beginning of the series Kagome shoots an arrow at a bird carrying the Shikon Jewel, but the arrow hits the Shikon Jewel itself, spreading shards of the Jewel over Warring States Era Japan and setting our heroes on a quest to gather the shards before they land in the hands of evil.

Actually a Doombot: Naraku has the ability to make "puppets" of himself powered by a strand of his hair wrapped around a wooden figure. He eventually tapers off of using them, but in the earliest stages of the series, basically any time someone fights Naraku there are high odds it will turn out to be one of these.

The manga gives very little information on Inuyasha and Kikyo's backstory other than briefly implying that they had fallen in love once. Some of Kikyo's comments also suggests that she hadn't been able to soften Inuyasha's heart and they had never kissed (until she did so in present-time). The anime episode "The Tragic Love Song of Destiny" expands greatly on their story to show how the falling in love happened with Inuyasha becoming kinder around her and culminating in them sharing a kiss, the opposite of what the manga suggested.

The original season of the anime added some comedic episodes that were not in the manga.

The anime makes the assertion that Kagome needs jewel shards in order to use the well, whereas the manga says no such thing. Later in the series when Kagome loses all her jewel shards and can still use the well, at first the anime tries to cover for itself by claiming Sango had a secret stash that Kagome could borrow, but later just quietly forgets about the whole thing and lets her use the well without any.

Shippo grabbing Tessaiga in a filler episode, you know, the sword that has an anti-youkai barrier that's pretty important to the plot.

The story is about the Shikon Jewel trying to renew its cycle, having the souls of a powerful miko and a composite of several youkai and a human, and needing similar souls, like Kikyo/Kagome and Naraku. All of this information is either left out or outright changed in the anime during the Jewel explanation.

Bankotsu is laidback, illiterate and treasures loyalty, he also finds killing to be his calling.

Jakotsu is a misogynist murdering psychopath, but he's also incredibly bubbly about his "crushes", is loyal to Bankotsu and is genuinely one of his few friends.

After-Action Patch-Up: Subverted at the beginning of Sesshomaru's introductory episode: Kagome attempts to patch Inuyasha up following their battle with Yura of the Hair, during which he was stabbed through the shoulder with a sword, but after forcibly wrestling his shirt off she finds that he's already fully healed.

Kagura's death is quite tragic: decides to save Kohaku knowing well that neither Akago nor Naraku will be happy with the betrayal. Naraku mockingly returns her heart before fatally poisoning her with his miasma. The heroes and even Sesshomaru rush to try to help her to no avail. She dies in a field of flowers, with a smile in her face for Sesshomaru being there, and her last thought being "I am the wind, as free as the wind."

The heroes try to convince Kanna not to throw her life away and upon her demise, Kagome feels sad for her, having realized that, despite everything Naraku said, Kanna truly did have emotions and wanted to live.

Alas, Poor Yorick: In the manga, during Goshinki attack, at one time the only two surviving kids are hugging the severed heads of their parents.

Alleged Lookalikes: Everyone initially compares Kagome to Kikyo. They may technically have the "same" face (as it turns out they have the same soul), but when the series suffers from Only Six Faces and Kikyo and Kagome purposefully differ in hair style, habitual facial expressions, skin tone, and age, they don't look alike at all - at least, not any more alike than any other two random characters you could pick out. The anime has it worse, so that it's almost an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole there.

The manga did have Kagome start off with blunter bangs [1] making it easier to see why she was compared to Kikyo

All Part of the Show: During a school festival episode, Inuyasha unwittingly interrupts Kagome's play by challenging the male lead to a duel, then slays a watermelon demon that suddenly appears, then jumps through a hole he made in the ceiling while carrying Kagome, and none of the Muggles in the audience realize this was unscripted. When Kagome's friends got to meet Inuyasha, one of the things they asked him was if Kagome asked him to do that.

Almost Kiss: Inuyasha and Kagome almost shared one before being rudely interrupted. It was the closest they got to a kiss in the manga. The Final Actfixed that.

Amazon Chaser: Sango is wanted by both Miroku and Kuranosuke because of her beauty and her strength. Inuyasha as well because his love interests, Kikyo and Kagome, are both known for their bravery and fighting abilities.

Ambiguous Situation: In the ending, it's left ambiguous as to whether or not Kagome can use the well to travel through time anymore after she returns to the Feudal Era for good, but it's implied by her tearful farewell to her mother and Sota's conversation with his friends that she can't.

Amplifier Artifact: The Shikon Jewel is shattered by accident by one of Kagome's arrows. Other demons that get even one or two shards get a comparatively large power boost. Naraku collects all the shards for reassembly into the intact Jewel for the purpose of becoming the ultimate youkai.

Anatomy of the Soul: The soul is divided in two: Kon and Haku. Kon is the heart (will) and Haku is the power that moves the body:

Moryomaru is just a bunch of dead youkai body parts animated by Haku. When Akago is inside of him, he provides the Kon.

Kikyo's Kon is the part she stole from Kagome's soul but she needs to constantly steal Haku to be able to move.

And Then What?: Near the end, Byakuya asks Naraku what wish he will make on the Shikon Jewel after he has killed Inuyasha and the rest; he admits he isn't sure. Later Kagome correctly guesses that he had already made a wish but the Jewel didn't grant it.

Animal Jingoism: Played for Laughs with the animosity between Inuyasha and Shippou. In Japanese folklore, dogs and foxes hate each other and more than one secret kitsune wife has been outed by the clueless husband's loyal dog. Inuyasha is Shippou's favourite target for pranks and practising his magic on, so Inuyasha tends to bite back.

Animation Bump: The anime series itself often goes from good to poor in sequential order, with a superbly animated episode followed by a greatly inferior one. For example, the finale of the Bankotsu fight has smoother animation than most of the series. The Final Act continues the trend of fluctuating quality, but is overall better than the earlier series. A shorter series with a generous budget means the show basically got the same quality as the earlier movies. Conspicuous CGI was the main offense.

Kikyo settles into the role after her resurrection, once the worst of her initial rage has subsided.

Sesshomaru starts off as a villain, but subsequent Character Development shifts him from there to Anti-Villain and from there arguably to Anti-Hero; exactly where he falls tends to vary depending on your perspective.

A case can also be made for Kagura possibly reaching Anti-Hero status by the end of her character arc when she begins acting directly against Naraku - again depending on your mileage.

Anti-Villain: Saint Hakushin; Kagura and Sesshomaru both evolve into this role as well.

Appendage Assimilation: Sesshomaru tried to replace his severed arm with other youkai arms, but they all turned out to be useless and after a while he just stopped trying.

Arc Words: "Pure has now become Impure, Impure has now become Pure," for the Band of Seven/Mt. Hakurei arc.

Yura of the Hair is actually a spirit born from a comb used to comb the hair of dead people. Destroying the comb destroys Yura.

The cursed Noh Mask. It is a deadly artifact that once placed on the face, it absorbs/consumes the wearer.

Later, Sesshomaru commissions the making of the deadly sword Tokijin, crafted from the teeth of Naraku's detachment Goshinki. It possesses its own maker, but when Sesshomaru takes it for himself, he shrugs off the sword's attempt to possess him through sheer willpower.

Kanna has her Mirror, which can steal the very soul of those she shows it to or, in some cases, absorb the power and devastating effect of a weapon and allow her to direct it back at the sender.

The Naginata of Kenkon, aka the Naginata of Heaven and Earth, was fashioned from the corpses of 222 demons by the same demonic smith who made Tokijin.

Dakki, the youki-absorbing sword that transformed its human smith into a pseudo-youkai in order to try and absorb Tessaiga's youki and then transferred the full force of Inuyasha's attack to said smith's body in a desperate attempt to save itself.

Some of the angry villagers who bullied Jineji and tried to kill him and his mother are eaten alive.

Similarly, the villagers who bullied and beaten Rin in Episode 35 are killed by Koga's pack of wolves.

Sometimes, the episode will start by focusing on a Red Shirt Army bragging about how they're going to attack and conquer innocent lands. Guess what happens to them, courtesy of the Villain of the Week.

Sesshomaru's name is written with kanji meaning "kill," "life" or "genuine," and "perfection," a combination which could be interpreted to mean something to the effect of "perfect killer" or "complete destruction of life."

A number of the attack names also qualify, first among them Meidou Zangetsuha, which means "dark path of the dawn's moon blast".

Awful Truth: The truth about Tenseiga is kept secret for a long time because it's this trope for Sesshomaru.

Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: in Inuyasha's group: They may not always see eye to eye at times on certain matters, they may drive each other crazy, but when the chips down, they'll lay their lives on the line for each other, especially Inuyash and Kagome.

Ax-Crazy: Evil!Suikotsu, as well as Inuyasha himself whenever he goes in his youkai form.

Babies Ever After: In the finale, Miroku and Sango have gotten married and have three children; twin girls and a baby boy who is born at the start of the final chapter.

Sesshomaru in his fight with Magatsuhi when he has to be rescued by his brother. He gets stronger.

Inuyasha, whenever he turns human.

Miroku rescues Sango on a few occasions, including one where he gets severely injured freeing her from demon control. Sango also rescues Miroku later in the series by destroying her own weapon to do so, resulting in an ensuing stroy arc to get it fixed.

Sango. She's completely human and the only protagonist who doesn't have any kind of supernatural or magical power, but she's able to throw around the huge boomerang as if it were a toy, and is just about as good of a fighter as Inuyasha himself.

And of course, Kohaku. His Shikon shard doesn't seem to do anything but keep him alive and under Naraku's control, but by the end of the series he's able to easily slaughter groups of trained guards and youkai like they were nothing.

The Band of Seven while they did have Jewel shards when they fought against Inuyasha and company, they were just normal humans before they got resurrected and capable of easily taking out not only powerful demons but also entire armies by themselves.

Band of Brothers: The Inu-tachi. The group gets together mostly because of the shared battle against Naraku. While at the beginning they weren't fond of each other, their loyalty and dedication to one another grows steadily, to the point of not even thinking about putting their lives in danger to save the others. They end up forming a weird but strong family who still make snide remarks at each other all the time.

Bandit Clan: Inuyasha and Kagome encounter numerous bandit clans, some of which were being led by a demon in disguise.

Barefoot Poverty: The story is primarily set during the Warring States era, where almost everyone save for lords went barefoot at all times. A couple of characters like Kagura, Rin and Inuyasha himself do cross into Does Not Like Shoes territory however, but this too was largely the result of the times and simply being used to them. The entire setting was really the perfect barrel for Takahashi to indulge in some of her preferences.

Barrier Warrior: There are several, including Miroku, Kikyo and Naraku, but the most impressive is Saint Hakushin who is able to create an enormous barrier surrounding Mt. Hakurei which is incredibly powerful, enough to weaken youkai in the surrounding area and purifying them instantly if they get too close.

Bathtub Bonding: Kagome and Sango, but instead of a bathtub it's a hot spring. They get to learn a lot more about each other after they have a bath together.

Bee Afraid: The Saimyoushou, the poisonous insects Naraku uses. They're introduced primarily to limit Miroku's use of his Wind Tunnel by poisoning him if he takes them in; seeing them appear always means bad news.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: Inuyasha and Kagome, especially at the beginning. They later become a variant since they come to an understanding as to their mutual feelings, but the belligerence doesn't die down.

Miroku is normally very calm and collected, even in the presence of Naraku. But if you dare make inappropriate advances on Sango, he will beat you into a pulp.◊

Manten gets extremely upset when his last few hairs are lost from his head.

Sesshomaru's are mostly related to receiving Inuyasha's pity and hearing Kagura's death being insulted. The latter upset him so much that he broke Tokijin over it and endangered his own life in the process.

Discuss Inuyasha's love for Kikyo around Kagome. I dare you.

Threaten Inuyasha or any of Kagome's friends when she's around, only if you've made your peace with a higher power beforehand.

Betty and Veronica: Kagome is the Betty to Kikyo's Veronica and Inuyasha's Archie because she's his Nice Girl partner instead of the tragic priestess.

BFG: Renkotsu's grenade launcher and gatling gun, And Ginkotsu's flak cannon and (Missile launchers after being made into a giant cybernetic tank.).

Big Brother Instinct: Sesshomaru towards Inuyasha increasingly as the storyline progresses, Sango towards her little brother Kohaku, even the evil Hiten towards his younger brother Manten (and their little brothers love them too). Kagura also seems to develop one towards Kohaku, which ultimately led to her dying for it.

Big Damn Reunion: At the end of the manga, Kagome and Inuyasha reunite after a timeskip of three years in which Kagome was stuck in her own time and unable to come back. She and Inuyasha look lovingly at each other and share a deep hug upon their reunion.

Big Entrance: If the main activity suddenly gets interrupted by everyone being drawn to what appears to be a massive bolt of lightning that crashes into the earth, rattling the ground and releasing an overload of raw power, it almost always means Sesshomaru's just entered the scene.

Birds of a Feather: Inuyasha and Kagome, despite significant difference in personality: Both can get a little hot under the collar, especially with each other. They have a mutual dislike from running from fights. They can get easily jealous, can be stubborn and absolutely terrible at controlling or expressing their emotions. They also can't stand if anyone outside their group intends to do the other harm, physically or emotionally.

Inuyasha rams Tessaiga into the ground to prevent being sucked into the Wind Tunnel. In one of many amusing examples of just how alike the two brothers really are, when Sesshomaru first experiences the power of the Wind Tunnel, he reacts in exactly the same way (and since he's holding Tessaiga at the time, he even uses the same sword).

Also performed by Kohaku to prevent himself from falling to his death down a chasm.

Also by Kagome with Tessaiga inside Naraku's body.

Bland-Name Product: Wacdnalds, where Kagome and her school friends go to eat and hang around.

Miroku. The Wind Tunnel in his right hand, a curse placed on his grandfather and passed down onto him, is basically a one-way dimensional gateway with the force of a minute black hole. Even the most powerful of demons seem to be unable to escape it if drawn inside — witness the spirit of Kaguya, an entity stated to be truly immortal, being banished forever by being drawn inside the Wind Tunnel. However, Miroku can only control it by wrapping his hand in certain special beads, and as Naraku created it, he has also created a counter for it: a rapidly-breeding wasp-like creature called Saimyosho contain a poison that will cause Miroku intense pain and eventually death if he draws them in. Oh, and the Wind Tunnel, even if not used, is slowly growing ever larger, until the day when it consumes Miroku and everything around him in a fair-sized Sphere of Destruction, just as it has already devoured his father and grandfather.

Inuyasha's youkai form. Insanely high levels of strength and speed, a much improved healing factor, enough youki to make even Sesshomarufeel one, brief moment of fear and have a youketsu capable of holding the evil spirit of the Shikon Jewel immobile against its will and decay a frggin' portal to hell when its sliced by the Dragon-Scale Tessaiga. Of course, there's the little matter of him being a bloodthirsty monster that has barely any of Inuyasha's restraint, and each time it gets even less controllable and less intelligent. Of course, he does get to occasionally take advantage of it and Tessaiga at the same time, whenever someone starts stealing some of Tessaiga's forms, or he boosts Tessaiga with purified Shikon shards.

Blood from Every Orifice: This happens to Miroku when he takes a massive dose of Naraku's miasma into his Wind Tunnel in the process of trying to take him out once and for all.

Bloody Murder: Inuyasha's first and most basic ranged attack involves him making flying blades out of his blood (or, sometimes, other people's). He tends to pull it out only as a desperation move, for obvious reasons.

Blow You Away: Kagura. Her wind powers include tornados, flight, manipulating the wind to (attempt to) cut off the wind-based attacks of opponents and even Razor Wind.

Also very noticeable when the living Noh mask attacks Kagome; the body it has is the corpses of its previous victims mashed together into one fleshy lump.

Body of Bodies: The list include the Flesh-eating Mask, Naraku's true form, the whole Kodoku spell and also Moryomaru's later forms.

Book-Ends: The beginning, and the finale, both involve Kagome shooting the Shikon Jewel for some reason.

Boomerang Comeback: Sango uses this technique several times. She lets her enemies attack her while Hiraikotsu is away so they'll be hit by it when is returning to her.

Bowdlerise: The anime edits or otherwise drops several scenes of blood and/or nudity from the manga:

Mistress Centipede has Barbie Doll Anatomy in the anime. Not so much in the manga (though the [adult swim] version flip-flopped between erasing Mistress Centipede's breast linesnote because, apparently, breasts with no nipples are still offensive to American audiences, even when said show that has them airs when kids wouldn't be awake and keeping them in).

In the manga, Sesshomaru actually sliced out Inuyasha's right eye to get at the black pearl that led to their father's grave, whereas in the anime, he extracts the pearl with an energy beam that causes no visible damage to the eye itself.

Broken Hero: Miroku is a carefree, cheerful guy in spite (or maybe because) of having death looming over him his whole life.

Brought Down to Normal: Happens to Inuyasha (and every other half demon) every month, most often during a plot that could be resolved effortlessly with Inuyasha's normal powers. It also happens to him during the Mount Hakurei arc.

Cain and Abel: Inuyasha and Sesshomaru for a while mostly due to the perceived Parental Favortism. A better example would be Kinka and Ginka, brothers who are attached to one another because neither of them had managed to kill each other in their childhood as was the nature of their species.

The Call Knows Where You Live: After returning to her time after her first trip to the feudal era, Kagome assumes the whole experience was a dream and proceeds to forget about the whole thing....until Inuyasha barges into her house while her family is having dinner. It doesn't help that one of the bad guys (Yura of the Hair) seeking the Shikon Jewel tries to enter Kagome's time moments later.

Call-Back: The last opening song, Kimi ga Inai Mirainote 君がいない未来, A Future Without You, uses some phrases and titles from other opening and ending songs.

Calling Your Attacks: Once the manga hit its stride, almost all the characters do this. Uniquely, Sesshomaru's the only one who is mostly too cool to call his attacks out loud. He thinks them instead.

Sango: After all, she's the one you asked to bear your child. Miroku: Well, it's something I always say when I meet a girl. Sango: You haven't said it to me though. Miroku: Forgive me, Sango! Will you... Sango: You don't have to say it!

Cats Are Mean: A rather impressive filler arc showcased some cat demons as this.

Changed My Jumper: Kagome traveling through Feudal Japan in her school uniform with a very short skirt.

Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Played straight by Sango at least once in the anime where she changes from her normal clothes to her armor in a second, while leaping. Usually she averts it though, either having some time to change, fighting in her kimono or already wearing her armor since the beginning.

This is what happened to the smiling, talkative Sesshomaru. Lampshaded briefly in the manga, however. In the early days, his smiles were usually only sadistic. Later on in the manga, once Sesshomaru's unsmiling, taciturn personality is established, Jaken does briefly observe that Sesshomaru only smiles when he's in a killing mood.

Jaken also got this. His first appearance has him roast a pack of demons and be a generally competent advisor. A few appearances later, he's firmly settled into the Bumbling SidekickButt-Monkey role.

This is the only explanation for Koga. He starts out as a straight up villain, setting his wolves on Rin's village and killing her, kidnapping Kagome and threatening to kill Shippou. After a brief arc, he mellows out into an Anti-Hero rival to the main character and no mention of this previous deeds is ever made.

Chastity Couple: Basically what Miroku and Sango become after the proposal and before their marriage.

The Chessmaster: The Shikon Jewel manipulated everyone from the beginning. Including Naraku, so he would take the place of the youkai inside, and tried to manipulate Kagome into making a selfish wish, which would condemn her to take Midoriko's place.

Color Failure: When Shima claims that she has already given herself to Miroku; he, Sango and the youkai Nushi (who Shima is promised to marry) all experience this.

Combat Pragmatist: Miroku shows signs of this in his fight with Sango, tripping her with his staff so she'll lose Hiraikotsu. He's reminded painfully she has other weapons.

Combination Attack: The anime made up one for the films and a filler mini-arc involving Kagome's arrows and one of Inuyasha's special attacks combining together for impressive results. This doesn't actually make much sense because Kagome's arrows purify youki which is exactly what Inuyasha's attacks are made of, but it's not something that ever crops up in the manga.

Comedic Sociopathy: Where to begin? Kagome's abuse of Inuyasha, Sango's abuse of Miroku, Inuyasha's abuse of Shippo, Inuyasha and Miroku's abuse of each other, and Sesshomaru's abuse of Jaken are the more regular instances.

Comic-Book Time: While the manga lasted for 12 years, the whole story happens in barely one year, not taking into account the three-year Time Skip at the end.

Compressed Adaptation: The last season of the anime, where about 10-20 chapters were compressed into each of 24 episodes.

Conspicuous CGI: Pops up rarely, though the worst case is a scene in The Final Act where the grass was computer animated, and not lighted the same way as the hand-drawn parts.

The Constant: The Sacred Tree and Bone Eater's Well. To the extent that, when the Bone Eater's Well disappears in the Final Battle, it's seen as a very, very bad sign by everyone on both sides of the well.

Cool, Clear Water: None of the character seem to worry about how safe the water is to drink unless it's because a dangerous Youkai might be lurking there waiting to pounce on unwary drinkers... despite the story being set during a time of rampant war, death and disease.

Cooldown Hug: In the final episode of the (first) anime, when Inuyasha was turning into full youkai, Kagome's hug stopped the transformation. Justified in that she's in fact purifying the corrupt Shikon shard he was using.

Crazy-Prepared: Sango habitually carries a backup weapon, a hidden backup backup weapon, and a considerable assortment of poisons designed for use against demons. She rarely has to use more than Hiraikotsu and maybe her short sword, but when Miroku has to subdue her while she's under the control of a demon salamander, he gains a new and firsthand appreciation for just how scary an opponent she can be.

Creature-Hunter Organization: There used to be a group of people dedicated to exterminate the Youkai who were causing mayhem in the villages. During a gory attack orchestrated by Naraku, all of them except two were killed. The two survivors are Sango and her brother Kohaku.

Creepy Centipedes: Mistress Centipede is the first and foremost instance, but generic giant centipede monsters turn out to be one of the most commonly-encountered and easily-dispatched types of mook.

Cut Short: The anime initially ended just over half-way through the manga and there was nothing more for several years until the manga ended. This was finally subverted when a wrap-up series The Final Act was produced to conclude the anime, although it heavily truncated the story to try and fit over 200 chapters into 26 episodes.

Damaged Soul: Kikyo only has one part of her soul since Kagome has most of it. Which also means that Kagome's soul is missing a piece, but her soul is depicted as so unusually large and potent that it's not enough to notice.

Inuyasha was shunned by humans and hunted by youkai for being a hanyou (his half-brother hate him for that same reason), lost his mother early in his life and spent the rest alone, then he fell in love with Kikyo who betrayed him (or so he thought) and was sealed for fifty years.

Miroku witnessed his father fall victim to his curse when he was a little kid, watching him being consumed by his hand only leaving a big crater afterwards, and grew up knowing that that would be his fate one day.

Sango and Miroku waiting for the Wind Tunnel to absorb them while their despair consumes the light within the Shikon Jewel leaving it in darkness.

Sesshomaru's darkest hour occurs when he finally learns the truth about Tenseiga's origins and the real reason why he was given Meidou Zangetsuha, resulting in himbelieving that his father wanted Inuyasha to kill him to get the perfected technique back to Tessaiga. His Heroic BSoD is so overwhelming that even Myoga is desperate to help him. He's left so shaken that he leaves his group vulnerable for Naraku to attack them and Sango had to rescue them instead. Nothing in the manga - not even Kagura's death or Rin's second death - has ever made him despair the way thinking his father hated him did.

Inuyasha is tricked into thinking he murdered Kagome in his blood rage. This breaks him down so completely that he gives into his despair and demon blood.

Date Peepers: Every time Inuyasha/Kagome or Miroku/Sango have any romantic moments, the rest of the group will be either spying or eavesdropping.

Death Equals Emotion: Kanna starts showing that she actually has emotions and cared for Kagura just a little bit before her death.

Death Glare: Sesshomaru. Early in the manga, he scares off a pack of wolves with his glare alone. Later on, he's badly injured to such an unusual degree that Kagome and Shippou worry about it and discuss healing him. His glare sends both of them scurrying behind Inuyasha for protection.

Death Is Cheap: Ask Kikyo... or Kohaku... or Rin. The series does try not to take it too far: before he could master Tenseiga's Meidou Zangetsuha, Sesshomaru had to learn that even Tenseiga's ability to revive the dead has its limits, since he couldn't properly appreciate the value of the lives of others as long as he assumed he could simply bring them back. However, the lesson is rather undermined when Sesshomaru's mother revives Rin a second time anyway.

Death of the Hypotenuse: The Inuyasha - Kikyo - Kagome love triangle is finally broken when Kikyo dies for good, and she ends up perishing peacefully in Inuyasha's arms.

Deliberate Injury Gambit: Inuyasha lets Sesshomaru impale him through the chest, taking advantage of the moment and ripping off his older brothers arm to get Tessaiga back.

Deliberate Values Dissonance: Every time Kagome talks about her relationships from the past era to her present-day classmates, they assume the worst. Every episode they're in, they urge her to abandon the "violent and abusive thug" feudal-era Inuyasha in favor of the much nicer, present-day ideal boyfriend Hojo.

Depraved Homosexual: Jakotsu. He's Affably Evil enough to soften the effect a little, but still pretty depraved. He's also the only character to ever use the word 'sexy', at least in the anime.

Died in Your Arms Tonight: Kikyo in Inuyasha's arms. It's worth mentioning that Naraku explicitly tried to invoke this, in a twisted Yandere fashion. (He was, as usual, the reason she was dying in the first place.)

Dispel Magic: Myoga the Flea has an odd version of this; he can break binding spells on people because if he bites you, no amount of magic will prevent you from swatting him.

Distress Ball A few times picked up by Sango as a means to provide Miroku with a heroic moment and/or opportunity to show his devotion.

Distressed Damsel: The anime likes putting the female characters in distress much more than the manga does, especially Kagome and Rin. In the manga, however, Kagome's last true kidnapping was by the hands of the baby. After that she becomes a full-on Action Girl, saves Kikyo's life, defeats Naraku alone while burning in the flames of Hell, gets her ultimate weapon and her last part of Character Development after facing the shadows of her heart before ultimately killing Naraku and the Shikon Jewel. Rin isn't really kidnapped much, given the length of the manga, but the final time she's kidnapped lasts for quite a few chapters since it's the final battle.

Doom It Yourself: In one of the filler episodes, Inuyasha accidentally damages the handlebar to Kagome's new bicycle. While she goes to school, he volunteers to fix it. Given his lack of knowledge on bicycles - or anything else from the modern era for that matter - things quickly get out of hand, and by the time Kagome gets home, the bike is nothing but a mangled ruin.

Dumbass Has a Point: Considering how Jaken only sees Rin as a bothersome and clueless kid, this would count when she's the one to point out to him that Kagura is possibly in love with Sesshomaru, something he completely dismisses.

Dynamic Entry: Happens several times. One example consists of Kagome, Miroku and Sango being saved from Mukotsu by a clawed hand slicing into Mukotsu's body signify the arrival of - to Kagome's shock - Sesshomaru rather than Inuyasha.

Earn Your Happy Ending: After everything the main characters went through, almost all of them got a happy ending. Miroku and Sango are Happily Married and have three kids; Shippo is learning to get better with his powers; Kohaku, accompanied by Kirara, is atoning by helping other people; Rin is staying with Kaede and is often visited by Sesshomaru; and even though they were separated for three years, Kagome and Inuyasha are reunited at the end.

Easily Forgiven: Koga and his tribe murder a whole village of innocent people, and none of Inuyasha's team seem to mind. While Koga is a rival for Kagome's affection, this is played for laughs and he often works together with the team. The murders he committed are never brought by them in the entire series, although one filler episode in the anime acknowledged it and revealed Koga stopped attacking humans.

Eat Me: Naraku lets Moryomaru absorb him so he could get close to Akago and consume both of them from the inside.

Embarrassing Cover-Up: The excuses for why Kagome is missing so much school are usually provided by her grandfather and consist of a cavalcade of increasingly implausible health ailments, many of them more common to the elderly than to a teenage girl. Kagome inevitably finds it very embarrassing when she goes back to school and is questioned by her friends about her latest illness.

While it's hard to tell how he and his mother feel about each other, a significant part of Sesshomaru's character development involved getting over his daddy issues which required her help.

Even Evil Has Standards: Bankotsu, the utterly evil leader of the Band of Seven whose only stated desire is to kill as many people as he possibly can, is still completely disgusted by Renkotsu's greed and selfishness, eventually laying a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on himafter Renkotsu betrays and kills Jakotsu to steal his jewel shard.

Renkotsu: Tell me what's the difference! How is what I've done any different than what you're doing right now?! Bankotsu: The difference is I would never betray my friends.

Everyone Can See It: Everyone could see Inuyasha and Kagome liked each other since the beginning. Her brother Sota was surprised to find out that they hadn't yet admitted it. Everyone could also see Sango liked Miroku, except for Inuyasha.

Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: At one point, Naraku is utterly confused over the fact that, no matter what he makes Kohaku do, Sango simply will not kill him. Much later, he also remarks that the simple fact that Inuyasha's group would show mercy to Kanna, who had been sent on a Suicide Mission against them, actually makes him feel sick.

Evil Evolves: Tessaiga, though just demonic and not technically evil, qualifies as well late in the series, absorbing power from the demons it slays.

Evil Tainted the Place: After the mortally-wounded bandit Onigumo sold his soul and his body to become Naraku, the spot where he formerly lay was left corrupted, and even fifty years later, nothing grows there, even as moss has overrun the rest of the cave.

Inuyasha's sword, Tessaiga, explicitly has the ability to get stronger by killing things and gaining related abilities. note It has to be a strong opponent though. After mastering the Backlash Wave, all of the Tessaiga upgrades were based on this, one way or another.

Bankotsu had a weapon called Banryu that gained demonic power after killing 1000 humans and 1000 demons.

Excalibur in the Rust: In the hands of almost anyone except Inuyasha, Tessaiga looks like a katana that has seen better days. When Inuyasha weilds it, the blade takes its true form.

Expy: Rumiko Takahashi admitted that the romance between Inuyasha and Kagome was the romance she had originally intended to write between Ranma and Akane from Ranma ½.

Eye Colour Change: When Inuyasha and Sesshomaru transform, the sclera of their eyes turn red and their irises blue.

Eye Scream: In the manga, Sesshomaru stabs Inuyasha's right eye in order to get the black pearl that's hidden there, a portal to his father's grave.

Facial Markings: Sesshomaru and his mother have them. So does Inuyasha when he's a full demon.

The Fair Folk: The demons tend to be otherworldly and ruthless. Some are very ugly, others very beautiful. It's stated that the most powerful and dangerous ones are those that look like humans. This actually plays into Japanese culture; the beings referred to in Japan as Youkai and Obake would probably be considered more Fey than Demons by Western standards.

Family Theme Naming: The three named characters from the demon slayers' village — Sango, her younger brother Kohaku, and their pet Kirara — all have names referring to semi-precious stones (coral, amber and mica, respectively). Additionally, Kikyo and her younger sister Kaede both have names that begin with K and refer to plants (bellflower and maple). Also Kagome and Souta could be taken to mean Bamboo and young grass respectively.

Fanservice: Kagome does seem in many shots to be almost entirely made up of very shapely legs, though we never seeup her skirt. Twice, Kagome's breasts were bared though this is edited for the American releases as is the short shot of Shippo disrobing for a dip in an onsen. Also, Sango's Taijiya uniform is veryform fitting. All of the main girls have been subject to nude scenes shortly after their introduction. Kagura's top gets ripped off numerous times. Never mind the extreme frequency with which Inuyasha, Miroku and other male characters go shirtless.

Fantastic Racism: Humans and demons don't get along very well, even when they aren't straight-up killing each other. When a human and a demon fall in love, they are met with a great deal of discrimination.

Fast Forward to Reunion: Inuyasha and Kagome are separated after the final battle when the well stops working. We get a Time Skip of 3 years and they are reunited for good.

Fate Worse than Death: Midoriko and the composite youkai, having to battle each other forever inside the Shikon Jewel.

Yakurou Dokusen offers a "medicine" to Miroku so he'll stop feeling pain everytime he sucks poison into his curse but it won't cure the shouki wounds that are killing him. He takes it.

Shikon shards in the body will make it insensitive to pain no matter how severe the injuries are, which is how, for example, Sango manages to go toe-to-toe with Inuyasha in her first appearance despite being grievously injured.

Final Battle: The series' final battle takes place when the heros plus Sesshomaru's group go inside Naraku after he transforms into a giant, floating spider.

Fire-Forged Friends: The main group was formed because all the members (except Shippo) share a common goal, and at first they were hostile to each other. Inuyasha and Kagome are forced to work together to find the Shikon shards, they let Miroku join after learning they share a common enemy and Sango joins for the same reason. They warm up to each other and end up being best friends since they don't really have anyone else.

Fire Keeps It Dead: In the first chapter a mortally wounded Kikyo has herself cremated with the Shikon Jewel so she can take it to the afterlife with her and keep it out of the demons' hands. Unfortunately she didn't count on her reincarnation as Kagome five centuries later.

First Love: Kikyo is this for Inuyasha, he loves her and feels he failed her, feeling responsible for her.

Inuyasha starts to call Kagome by name after defeating Yura. Miroku jumps directly to first name basis with no honorifics with Sango, the only woman he addresses in such a fashion.

Averted by Sango, who never uses Miroku's name at all, always calling him "Houshi-sama" even after she's promised to marry him. (This and Miroku's use of yobisute mentioned above are distinctions not carried over into the English dub due to the difficulty of translating them effectively.)

Follow the Chaos: Naraku, along with his "stink", also tends to leave behind trails of dead bodies everywhere he goes

Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Plays with this. Kagome isn't flighty per se, but often forgets to bring her homework to class, only for Sota to pick up the slack. Then again, considering she's spending most of her time in the Feudal Era, she can hardly be blamed for losing focus on her supposed off days.

For the Evulz: If Naraku isn't gathering jewel shards or working on his next Evil Plan to off Inuyasha and his pals, he'll be ruining the lives of anyone and everyone he comes across just because he can.

A brilliantly blatant yet easy-to-miss example occurs when Naraku manipulates Sango into stealing Tessaiga for him. He is able to hold it and briefly uses it against her. Amidst the ensuing drama, the audience isn't likely to remember that said sword was suppossed to have a demon-repelling barrier around it that should've left a full demon like Naraku with some ugly burns on his hand... this is explained when we learn that Naraku isn't a full demon at all...

Another moment occurs as a result of the same incident. Sango tells Inuyasha's group that they can't trust her because, if Naraku attempts to use the same tactic on her in the future (making her choose between friends and a loved one), she'll make the same decision all over again. Right at the end of the manga, Naraku attempts what Sango feared and does indeed try to repeat the incident. This time, it's a choice between Rin's life and Miroku's life and, as warned, Sango does indeed make the same decision again: attempting to kill Rin to save Miroku.

Another throwaway comment, this time by Totosai. When Inuyasha first masters the Kaze no Kizu while fighting Sesshomaru and it's revealed at the same time that Tenseiga has chosen Sesshomaru as its true master, Totosai mutters to himself "Whether Tenseiga lives or dies will depend on Sesshomaru's heart". It takes hindsight to show us just how significant that statement proved to be.

After just getting Tessaiga but still being unable to make it transform against Sesshomaru, Inuyasha complains to Myoga about how useless it is, to which Myoga responds that it's a memento from his father and to never let go of it.

In the manga, the fact that there is more to the Jewel and that it seems and that it appears to be manipulating a lot of what has happened is introduced very early (basically along with Sango). Magatsuhi is also mentioned at this time and this actually also happens in the anime, but it's Lost in Translation.

The Inu no Taishou left two swords made from his fangs, one for each of his sons, but every time his corpse is shown it's missing only one fang. Turns out there was only one sword made from his fang: Tessaiga, which was later split up in two to create Tenseiga.

The Four Gods: A Quirky Miniboss Squad in one of the late filler arcs (first half of the anime's sixth season) is a squad of four Demon Ninjas based on them; Byakko of the Snow (Byakko the White Tiger), Genbu of the Darkness (Genbu the Black Turtle), Seiryuu of the Moon (Seiryuu the Azure Dragon), and Suzaku of the Flower (Suzaku the Vermillion Phoenix).

Free Sample Plot Coupon: Downplayed. Kagome already has the Shikon jewel inside her at the start of the series, but after some unsavory events it is fragmented into several pieces, scattered through Feudal Japan. Thus the objective is to retrieve them, and the first of them is held by a very powerful opponent, negating the trope entirely.

Freeze-Frame Bonus: Shampoo is seen jogging briefly in episode 128 of Inuyasha "Battle Against the Dried-Up Demons at the Cultural Festival.

Fuel Meter of Power: The Wind Tunnel is constantly expanding (a process that is accelerated every time it's used and even more so if it's injured) until it's big enough to break the seal and kill Miroku.

Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inuyasha and Kagome. Subverted by Miroku and Sango, as both of them have attacks for long (Hiraikotsu and Wind Tunnel) and short (Sango's sword and Miroku's staff) range.

Half-Human Hybrid: The title character. He was the result a relationship between an Inu yokai and a human princess.

Handicapped Badass: Sesshomaru lost his left arm fighting Inuyasha in his first appearance. He still was one of the most powerful characters in the series. Also, while Kikyo is among the strongest characters in the show, her frail artificial body heavily handicaps her; smacking her hard enough or stealing her souls back is often enough to render her helpless.

Happily Married: In the ending, Miroku and Sango, and probably Inuyasha and Kagome too.

Head Pet: Inverted. When Shippo travels on Kirara, he usually does it on her head.

Healing Factor: Everyone with youkai blood. Sesshomaru ups this to eleven later on in the series, which results in him being able to regenerate his missing left arm.

Healing Shiv: Sesshomaru's sword Tenseiga can revive the dead by cutting down the pallbearers of the afterlife as they come to collect the dead person's soul. However, as is eventually revealed under tragic circumstances, people can be revived in this manner only once.

HeelFace Turn: Kagura. She first betrays Naraku to help Hakudoshi, but then she betrays both to save Kohaku's life. She even gets offered a spot with Inuyasha's group, but she declines. This offer may have saved her life. Temporarily.

Hero of Another Story:Inuyasha and Sessomaru's late father is spoken of with great reverence, and for good reason. Not only does the "Dog General" dwarf his sons in his true form, in his time he fought and defeated numerous epic foes, and he also had an equally epic and tragic romance with a beautiful human princess—Inuyasha's mother.

Hero Stole My Bike: Miroku stole Kagome's bike and the Shikon Shard she carried when they first met.

Hitchhiker Heroes: It starts with only Kagome and Inuyasha looking for shards, after some time they encounter Shippo who tags along, a little after that Miroku joins up, and finally after that, Sango and Kirara also join them.

Hitodama Light: Kikyo is surrounded by the blue spheres of human souls at many times to sustain her resurrected body.

Hostage for MacGuffin: In Episode 9, Kagome is kidnapped by the Thunder brothers. She convinces them to let her live to in order to force Inuyasha to trade the jewel shards for her, but this is a bluff as Inuyasha's relationship at the time was still somewhat antagonistic. That leads to this exchange:

Inuyasha: Let me get this straight, you and I are supposed are supposed to be lovers? Kagome: This is no time to get all shy! Inuyasha: You actually think I'd hand over the jewel shards as a ransom to get you back?! Kagome: Of course you would! Cause that's what a lover would do!

Homage: Doesn't the whole plot around how only the "right" person can pull the sword Tessaiga from the place it stands remind people a lot of King Arthur?

Home Sweet Home: Kaede's village, all the protagonists settle down there at the end.

Home Version Soundtrack Replacement: Has a funny case. While V6's "Change The World" is retained as the first opening on TV and DVD, Netflix replaces it with "Hanyou Inuyasha". It doesn't sync well, to say the least.

Human Mom Nonhuman Dad: Almost always the case for any half-demon who appears in the series, starting with Inuyasha himself and also including Jinenji and Shiori. The only exception is the one-shot filler episode character Gyuoh, who is the offspring of a human man and a cow demon.

Hybrid Power: Inuyasha has a lot of demonic power from his father, but his human side has certain advantages of its own. Due to his incredibly powerful father he has more power than many demons, and his human side grants him use of the sword forged from his father's fang, which lets him take out any demons his own powers can't take. Addtionally, Inuyasha cannot be purified into oblivion which becomes useful when up against a monk gone astray in an entirely different way from Miroku.

Hypocritical Humor: Miroku: "What a terrible guy, to trick girls with a fake medicine." Inuyasha and Kagome in episode 90 when trying to persuade Sota to confess his feelings to his crush "If he loves her, he should just come out and say so. Yeah definitely!"

I Choose to Stay: After finishing her education, Kagome opts to remain in the past with Inuyasha.

I Die Free: Kagura's only desire is to be free but doesn't want to die to get it so she does everything in her power to get Naraku killed without him knowing. When she chooses Kohaku's life before her own and gets impaled by Naraku for her troubles, she realizes that dying was the only way to be free. (Further confirmed by Byakuya who mentions that the detachments would die anyway when Naraku is killed).

I Never Told You My Name: In the Hoshiyomi filler arc, demons manage to get a photo of three of Kagome's friends from her backpack, and use it to create puppets of them in order to trick Kagome and Hojo into handing over the magic blade that their master needs. Kagome is suspicious to begin with, but her suspicions are confirmed when one of the three calls her by her name - which she hadn't mentioned to them.

I Shall Taunt You: Mouryoumaru tries to goad Inuyasha into getting so angry that he does something stupid by insulting Kagura's death. To everyone's shock (including Mouryoumaru's) the one who flies into an Unstoppable Rage is actually Sesshomaru instead, who becomes so upset that he breaks Tokijin and puts his own life in danger.

Idiot Ball: Shippo in episode 50, unintentionally provokes Inuyasha into using the Tessaiga which was hard to use after being reforged, while for once he was trying to be pragmatic and use his claws against Kagura's weak demons prior to the big slip of the tongue.

If I Can't Have You...: Naraku with Kikyo. He tricks Kikyo and Inuyasha into betraying each other, in hopes that he might be able to whisk the girl away after she's killed her former lover, but to much of his dismay she decides to choose death. Then when she's resurrected, he tries to kill her over and over again until he finally succeeds. He even wanted her to die in his arms, hoping that Inuyasha would be too late.

Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Happens several times in the manga, bad guys impaling good guys, good guys impaling bad guys. Brothers impaling each other.

Magatsuhi first impales Sesshomaru's only arm three times and later impales him twice through the chest.

Implied Love Interest: Sesshomaru and Kagura, whose feeling are never specifically confirmed but whose significance to one another is clear in the later parts of the storyline (and helpfully spotlighted by Rin).

In a Single Bound: Justified with Inuyasha and other youkais, not so much for humans.

In the Past, Everyone Will Be Famous: Subverted. When Inuyasha and Kagome meet a young samurai named Nobunaga, she immediately asks for his autograph excited to be meeting the famous Oda Nobunaga. It turns out he's Amari Nobunaga and is offended to be mistaken for that "idiot".

Incendiary Exponent: The first time Inuyasha turns into a human, he ends up having to fight a spider demon. So he pulls up a bunch of wooden grave markers amidst cries of blasphemy, sets them on fire, and then uses them as flaming javelins.

Infinity +1 Sword: By the end of the series, Tessaiga can generate huge energy blasts, reflect incoming energy attacks, launch a spray of adamantine spikes, cut through energy barriers, siphon demonic energy, and CREATE DIMENSIONAL PORTALS TO THE UNDERWORLD.

Interspecies Romance: Inuyasha, Shiori and Jinenji all have human mothers and Youkai fathers. And Inuyasha himself with Kagome and Kikyo.

Intoxication Ensues: Inuyasha: "I ain't drunk. And why are there two Kagomes?" On another occasion he ends following a butterfly and falling off a cliff.

Involuntary Shapeshifting: Inuyasha turns human during the night of the new moon. He also transforms into full youkai when in danger (and not having Tessaiga near to seal his blood) and when a very corrupt Shikon shard is nearby (and not having Kagome near to purify him).

Irony: Sesshomaru's mockery of both Inuyasha and their father for caring for humans, when he ends up caring for a little girl himself.

A Shout-Out only found in the anime version is the appearance of a Boar Demon named Chokyukai, who claims to be a descendent of Chohakkai, aka "Disciple Pigsy". He also has a monkey and a scrawny kappa as his slaves, and claims that they are descendents of Shagoyjo (aka "Disciple Sandy") and Son Goku (aka "Monkey", aka "Sun Wukong"). Kagome has to explain to Inuyasha and co. that Chokyukai is talking about the famous tale of a Monk who travelled to India alongside a pig demon, a water demon, and a rebellious monkey god to retrieve sacred sutras.

The main characters mirror the Journey's main characters to some extent. Inuyasha just like Goku is bad tempered, is set free from a long curse at the beginning, has an elongable weapon, has animal traits and is subdued by a talisman which is under control of the person he's protecting. Kagome, like Tripitaka, is on a quest for a sacred item, is the reincarnation of a noble soul of the past, is the preferred target of demons and is helpless compared to most other characters. Miroku and Sango have some traits in common with Pigsy and Sandy respectively.

Just a Kid: Lord Kagewaki: "The most skilled [slayers]? But I see here before me a young girl, and you even brought a small child".

Just Following Orders: Byakuya's excuse to Sesshomaru when he interferes with Sesshomaru's pursuit of Mouryoumaru is, "don't hate me, I'm just doing my job".

Karmic Death: Hakudoshi. Yeah, turns out Naraku had a lot more control over you than you thought...

Ki Attacks: Most all the attacks Inuyasha does are ki attacks focused through his sword; he rarely uses it to actually cut anyone, aside from monster-like demons. This is eventually lampshaded by Sesshomaru, who cryptically advises his brother that he's put so many weird powers into the blade that he's forgotten what the point of a sword is (the point of the sword is to cut).

Killer Rabbit: Kirara. She's usually a very small and cute kitty with two tails but she can transform into a large saber-toothed cat with flames around her feet and tails, and in this form she's able to fly and carry up to three people on her back.

Knife Outline: When Inuyasha was trying to steal the Jewel from Kikyo, instead of killing him she decided to pin him like this to a tree.

Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Even though the Wind Tunnel is the most powerful (and destructive) weapon, Miroku rarely gets to use it since it's vulnerable to poison, and more often than not the foe they're fighting is poisonous. Naraku has the Saimyoshou (poisonous hell bees) exactly for this reason.

Ladykiller in Love: Miroku falls hard for Sango. He still flirts with any beautiful lady, though. He later regrets it after he nearly loses Sango in the process and tones it down a little.

Land Poor: The Higurashi family are a straight example of the Japanese version. They own a house with several outbuildings, a shrine and a huge tree in the back yard in downtown Tokyo, while being comfortably lower-middle class. Justification abounds, though. The Higurashi family has tended the shrine since Tokyo was a tiny fishing village (in fact, it's implied that the village grew up around the shrine). The house was built so the shrine caretaker wouldn't have to live in the shrine, which would be disrespectful. The outbuildings are mostly sheds and stores for tools and supplies needed to keep the shrine and grounds clean and pretty. The shrine's age and beauty make it both a popular tourist attraction and a popular site for weddings. Meaning that between the rents from bridal parties and the gift shop, the family does have a decent income, but most of it is plowed back into upkeep and repairs.

Lonely Together: Inuyasha and Kikyo in the past. Both felt extremely alone and bonded over it.

Long Runner: The first anime was 167 episodes plus four movies, five in Japan. The Final Act added 26 episodes, for a grand TV total of 193. The manga started in 1996, and finally concluded in June 2008 with its 558th chapter. Overall the series ran for twelve years.

Lotus-Eater Machine: The Shikon Jewel makes Kagome believe she's living a normal life while she's trapped inside the jewel.

Love Dodecahedron: There are so many love triangles that include the two main protagonists that it inevitably results in this: Inuyasha/Kagome/Kikyo, Inuyasha/Kikyo/Naraku, Inuyasha/Kagome/Koga, Kagome/Koga/Ayame, Kagome/Inuyasha/Hojo, and then we have Inuyasha/Jakotsu.

Love Epiphany: From volume 7 and onwards is where both Kagome and Inuyasha seem to acknowledge that they've fallen in love with each other, though they remain on the down-low about it. Kagome has a more official one later on when her jealousy over Inuyasha and Kikyo makes her admit to herself that she indeed loves him.

Loveable Rogue: Miroku doesn't have any problems with lying, cheating, conning, stealing, drinking, womanizing, etc. He's still one of the good guys and a Buddhist monk.

Tessaiga initially appears to be this, then it seems to be averted when it's revealed Sesshomaru can use it as well, it's only the youkai-repelling barrier that stops him. Finally, it's confirmed during a Die or Fly test of worth when Sesshomaru deliberately steals Tessaiga's power to test its bond with Inuyasha only to find the power immediately flees back to Inuyasha at the first chance it gets.

Toukijin is so powerful and evil not even Totosai can approach it. Sesshomaru overcomes the blade's evil will easily and the sword obeys him loyally until the day it's destroyed.

Tenseiga is extremely loyal to Sesshomaru even though he doesn't want it at all. Even when he deliberately shatters the blade and discards it, the sword ends up reforging itself and landing back on the ground near Sesshomaru. The only reason Tenseiga is not a Clingy MacGuffin is because it can be physically separated from Sesshomaru. It just won't stay separated.

Luminescent Blush: Particularly Sango, but also Kagome and Inuyasha when things get a little too "romantic" between them.

The Man Behind the Man: Near the end of the manga, it's implied that the Shikon Jewel manipulated Naraku in a bid to free itself while perpetuating the Vicious Cycle. The last chapter implies that the Shikon Jewel was the REAL Big Bad that Kagome was sent back in time to defeat.

Manipulative Bastard: Naraku loves to turn people against each other. And the Shikon Jewel itself to Naraku and practically everyone in the series.

Manly Tears: Inuyasha shed tears when Kagome, Sango and Miroku survived after thinking they had died. And later, he cried as he held a dying Kikyo in his arms.

Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex: Kagome is a normal human teenage girl, while Inuyasha is a half demon who can lift boulders with one hand and take a sword through the chest without receiving any permanent injuries. He also has razor sharp claws on his fingers that cannot be retracted. While they never do get significantly intimate in the tv series or manga, it's not hard to imagine how this could cause some problems farther down the line as their relationship progresses.

Mars Needs Women: Demons and half-demons in the series have a general contempt for humans, yet numerous demon and half-demon characters are attracted to at least one of them, including Inu no Taisho(he did have a yokai wife before and had Sesshomaru with her), Inuyasha, and Koga.

Master of the Mixed Message: Miroku so very much. His proposal is infamous for this: first telling Sango she's a special woman to him but later saying he can't love her and she's only a friend to fight alongside with, and then culminating with asking her if she would live with him and bear his child after Naraku is defeated.

MayflyDecember Romance: Since youkai are Really 700 Years Old, any relationship between a human and a youkai. Curiously enough, in the three known relationships like this, the youkai died first. Somewhat justified by other youkai and humans alike viewing this as betrayal and trying to destroy all involved, which the youkai member stopped at the cost of their life (in two of the examples, anyway).

Inuyasha himself, whose name means Dog-Yaksa. A yaksa is a spirit who in Buddhism serves a benevolent god that protects the righteous. Because Tessaiga is meant to be used for the protection of humans, Inuyasha's name suits him very well.

Another very noticeable example is the entire Band of Seven, whose names all end with "-kotsu" (meaning "bone"), indicating their undead natures. The prefixes of their names are individually meaningful as well; for instance, the "ja-" in Jakotsu's name means "snake," a reference to his serpent-like Whip Sword (accordingly named "Jakotsu-to," "snake bone sword").

Men Don't Cry: Inuyasha says this to a crying Shippo when they think Kagome, Miroku and Sango have died. When it turns out they haven't, Inuyasha tries to hide his tears which Shippo is fast to point out. Sesshomaru also never cries, to the extent where Jaken will cry for him where necessary.

Demons do this all the time, fusing together to make more powerful demons. The Shikon Jewel was created when a particularly large number of demons fused with a human to fight a priestess. After a long battle both souls fused and crystallized into the series' MacGuffin.

Naraku was created when the deranged and perverse thief (and Kikyo's Stalker with a Crush) Onigumo merged with thousands of demons. And at one point in order to obtain a stronger body, he perfoms a Kodoku spell: thousands of fierce demons fight inside a cave in a mountain, and the winner absorb and merge with the losers. Eventually Naraku ends up absorbing the surviving demon in himself.

Mistaken for Quake: In the episode "Battle Against the Dried-Up Demons at the Cultural Festival", Kagome wonders if the ground shaking is an earthquake, but it's actually a demon catfish flopping around on top of the school.

Kagome and Inuyasha get interrupted several times. One noteworthy example happens towards the end of the story when they're alone in her house and are about to kiss when Souta comes crashing through the door.

Miroku and Sango on the other hand dont need any help, theyll ruin the moment themselves.

Mood Whiplash: Chapter-wise, the story will sometimes have one of those chapters involving the characters in an epic battle with them all in mortal danger, which is then followed by a comedic chapter of Inuyasha visiting Kagome's home as he breaks stuff and acts like a dog.

Morality Pet: Rin, for Sesshomaru. Kohaku becomes something of a Morality Pet for Kagura for a short time until she dies saving his life, resulting in him defaulting to Sesshomaru. One imagines that if everyone else got killed off, Fluffy'd probably end up with Shippo as well.

Morphic Resonance: When Shippo shape shifts he is usually unable to conceal his tail.

He himself admits once he has the complete jewel, he's not sure what to do with it, largely because all the things he wanted it for, he either already has now or doesn't need or want them anymore. He decides to just use the jewel's power to kill Inuyasha, and since he's spent so long fighting Inuyasha, he admits outright he's not sure what he's gonna do after that. It says something of how long the series runs that the Big Bad loses track of exactly why he's the Big Bad.

Kagome confronting Naraku near the end and making the unusually astute guess that the Shikon Jewel did not grant Naraku's wish is really one of the best moments of the series. Naraku states more explicitly at the moment of his death, that his wish was to have Kikyo's heart, and the possibility of being with her in the afterlife, which the Shikon Jewel could not give him. Failing this, he instead planned to replace Midoriko and the youkai with himself and Kagome, by wishing to become part of the Shikon Jewel and by using the stolen Meidou to trap Kagome with the Shikon Jewel. (This of course was really the wish of the Shikon Jewel itself.) The (uncertain) implication is that Kagome could not be trapped in the Shikon Jewel unless she made a wish on it, and any wish would do except for the wish for the Shikon Jewel to be destroyed.

The Movie: Four times. They're generally non-serial, but occasionally nods to them are thrown into the anime, like Sesshomaru's Soryuha technique, which was made up for a movie. The fandom periodically circulates rumours of a fifth but that generally refers to either the ending of an old computer game or a more recent OVA that was released as part of the Rumic World Specials and can be found, with minor editing, as episode 15 of the The Final Act. For the movies' tropes go to their respective pages:

Muggle-and-Magical Love Triangle: Kagome has the most desired boy in school fall in love with her, but even when she goes on dates with him she finds herself thinking about Inuyasha, half-dog demon from the mythic past.

Multi-Melee Master: All demon slayers are this, carrying a main weapon and a short sword, and if Sango is any indication, a chain and a hidden blade in their sleeve, too. Sango even fights with the Hiraikotsu and the sword at the same time.

Mystical White Hair: With a very few brown-haired exceptions, all of the normal humans in the series have black hair (or had it previously and went grey with age). The white hair of characters like Inuyasha and Sesshomaru marks them as obviously supernatural.

Nemesis Weapon: An inversion of the alignments. Protagonist Inuyasha's Tessaiga is a sword of destruction. His rival and evil brother Sesshomaru wields the Tenseiga which is the sword of life. Both were forged from their father's fang, and the swords were chosen for each brother so that they would be unable to fight each other. A good portion of Sesshomaru's early motivation was to steal the Tessaiga for himself. Later he commissioned a third blade, Tokijin, from an evil smith specifically to counter Tessaiga.

Never Trust a Hair Tonic: Two demon brothers kidnap Kagome. She thinks they simply want to eat her, but it turns out one of them is severely balding and embarrassed about it, and he has heard you can get a hair growth potion by boiling down a human maiden. At hearing this, Kagome angrily insists they eat her instead.

Never Trust a Title: The first two movie titles, Affections Touching Across Time and Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, are rather deceptive. Both of those things have a very small role in the movies. This is quite a contrast to most tv episodes, where the plots are often spelled out quite literally in the title. For example, episode 36 is title Kagome gets Kidnapped by a Wolf Demon.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Literally for Kagome. She managed to kill the youkai that had stolen the Shikon Jewel but in the process also broke the jewel, putting into motion the plot of the story.

In the end, Sesshomaru is revealed to be this when Magatsuhi tries to kill him by stabbing him twice in the chest. It only makes him even stronger than he used to be.

Nipple and Dimed: May come as a surprise to those more familiar with the anime, but the original manga isn't afraid to show partial female nudity on occasion (e.g. Kagome is shown topless when she undergoes a cleansing rite early in volume one). Even makes for Fan Disservice once when a short-term villain comes in with a female demon done up like an Indian dancing girl, then punches her head off to punctuate a point to another character.

Noble Demon: Inu-no-Taisho was probably one. Sesshomaru's mother might also be one, but her single appearance leaves it difficult to tell: although she participates in Inu-no-Taisho's plan to teach Sesshomaru compassion, interpretations vary as to whether or not she demonstrates a Lack of Empathy. Character Development eventually lands Sesshomaru in this category; other examples include Totosai, Housenki, and the fathers of Jinenji and Shiori. As a rule, if you have a half-demon child, you are probably a Noble Demon.

Averted with Kikyo, who spent much of the manga as an evil mockery of her former gentle self while continuing to retain her healing abilities and her desire to heal. Eventually, her kind nature was saved and restored.

The end of the "Fateful Night in Togenkyo" story ends with Kagome, Miroku, and Shippo standing at the edge of a cliff and mourning for Inuyasha, who apparently fell to his death. When Inuyasha, coming up behind them, takes exception to Kagome calling him an idiot for dying, it takes the rest of the cast an extra line or two of dialogue before they catch on.

This happens a few times in the show. The first time is when Shippo first appears. Inuyasha is crying over Kagome who thanks to the foxfire protecting her, looks like a dead spirit (and Myoga the flea is so certain of this that he manages to convince Inuyasha).

Not Quite Dead: Kikyo quite a few times, she seems to be prone to fall from cliffs.

Not What It Looks Like: When Inuyasha refuses to let Kagome check on his injuries after their battle with Yura of the Hair, she tries to tear off his shirt in order to check for any serious damage. When Kaede and some of the children from the village bump into the two, they think they're doing....something else.

Now or Never Kiss: The reason why Sango kissed Miroku. Unfortunately for him, he was unconscious.

Nun Too Holy: Miroku is a Buddhist monk... who chases after women, has tried to peep on women bathing at least once, is willing to use violence to make others agree with him (he's beaten up the Tanuki Hatchi at least once, and then threatened to use the Wind Tunnel on him a different time) and is quite willing to fake exorcisms in order to get food, money, lodgings or any combination of the aforemention. Of course, this kind of plays on real-world stereotypes of actual monkish behavior from that time period.

Official Couple: Miroku and Sango become pretty much official in the middle of the story, Inuyasha and Kagome stay not-quite official until the very last second, that said Kagome refers to him as her boyfriend about mid-way through the story and there are no objections.

Once More, with Clarity!: In the first chapter, Kikyo's last words to Inuyasha after pinning him to a tree are "The Jewel of Four Souls... For such a thing..." and the anime makes it clear that at this point his consciousness faded. When she's revived, the scene is revisited, and we hear the whole thing in full: "The Jewel of Four Souls... For such a thing... you betrayed me..."

One-Man Army: Despite the back-up his friends give him, Inuyasha is more than capable of this. His sword can slay a hundred youkai with a single swing... and that's its weakest ability. Then there's Miroku, who can take out many youkai with his Wind Tunnel (when he's allowed to use it). And Sesshomaru's sword can slay thousands of youkai with a single swing.

The One That Got Away: Debatably Sesshomaru and Kagura, sounds like a classic case of losing the one you love before getting a chance to tell them how you feel.

Only Good People May Pass: The title character once had to enter a cave that was protected by an enchantment that prevented anyone from going in for selfish reasons. Needless to say, this presented some difficulty for him.

Only I Can Kill Him: Everyone wants to kill Naraku, but Kikyo puts special emphasis on how she is the only one who can really do it. She doesn't, although her efforts prove integral to his eventual defeat. Her help would not even be required if she hadn't given him the jewel shards and made him stronger to begin with.

The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Sesshomaru declares his claim on Inuyasha's life after Inuyasha receives Tessaiga, the sword that Sesshomaru wants for himself. As his Character Development progresses, it's not long before his "nobody kills my brother but me" attitude starts coming across as a face-saving excuse to get involved in Inuyasha's battles without admitting that he doesn't actually want him dead any more.

Only One Name: All of the characters in the Sengoku era have only one name. Justified since throughout most of Japanese history, the only people who had family names were those who came from noble families, until a law passed during the Meiji Restoration made family names compulsory for everyone regardless of class.

Only Six Faces: There are in fact Only Four Faces - Young Woman, Young Man, Old Woman, and Old Man. The difference between the first two and last is also debatable. Kikyo and Kagome are the only two characters that have any business looking alike, but they look like just about every other young woman, and even some of the men. Ironically, Kikyo and Kagome are two of the more distinct comparisons, given the differences in hairstyle, skin tone, and default facial expressions in the anime. The manga has a few exceptions... all of whom are used for gags (i.e. the servant boy who was acting as a replacement sacrifice, Youreitaisei, etc.).

Open-Minded Parent: Nobody in her family minds that Kagome is gone for days or weeks at a time adventuring in a past era full of Youkai and missing a lot of school to do it, or that she's falling for a guy who's only half human; on the contrary, they cheerfully make up excuses for her to explain her absences.

Ornamental Weapon: Koga carries a sword he never uses. He even admitted he just had it for decoration after having to use it to free himself from Moryomaru.

Ah-Un is a kind, loyal, two-headed dragon-horse that travels with Sesshomaru. In the anime, he's also made herbivorous.

Ryoukotsusei is a giant elder Dragon who's Nigh Invulnerable and speaks through what looks like a Noh mask in the middle of his forehead. Inuyasha's father is fatally wounded fighting and sealing him.

Overshadowed by Awesome: Kagome, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, and Kirara all routinely fall victim to this trope whenever they go into battle teamed up with Inuyasha. Despite the fact that all of them have at least a few skills that could contribute to victory, Inuyasha usually does almost all or all of the heavy lifting in combat, and he virtually always is the one to deliver the final killing blow. Sometimes Inuyasha's companions will just stand in the background and make commentary about the fight, even though they have no valid reason not to participate.

Papa Wolf: Sesshomaru, who dives into hell in order to save his Morality Pet Rin and kicks the King of Hell's ass in order to save her and was very clearly in pain about her death.

Sango has a scar on her back where her brother stabbed her, a memento of when her family, village and life were destroyed by Naraku.

Naraku has a burn scar in the shape of a spider on his back reminding him of his despised human core.

Kagura has the same scar as Naraku, a symbol of her enslavement.

Please Kill Me If It Satisfies You: Sango offered her life to Sesshomaru after she tried to kill Rin to save Miroku but Sesshomaru just seemed to forgive her. While his thoughts and feelings about the situation are left ambiguous, it probably helped Sango's case that she apologize to Rin while giving the girl her mask to protect her from Naraku's miasma.

Please Put Some Clothes On: In the Tokajin arc, Inuyasha comes to rescue Kagome just to find her naked. After a few awkward seconds, he throws her his haori.

Pointy Ears: Usually to help identify who the human-looking demons are. Not all of them have it but still...

Poison Is Evil: Poison is used a lot by villains on the show. Possibly even veers into Evil Is Poison, as it's implied that demonic aura itself is inherently poisonous. Naraku is especially toxic due to being created from fused demons. Subverted by Sango and the demon slayers who commonly use specialized poisons against demons.

Poisonous Person: Naraku, whose body constantly oozes toxic miasma. It's implied that demonic power itself is inherently poisonous, but Naraku's is exceptionally so due to him being created from so many demons fused together.

Portal Slam: The Bone Eater's Well stops working for three years after the final battle leaving Kagome "trapped" in her own time, only to work one last time to let her return to Inuyasha.

Portal to the Past: The Bone Eater's Well lets Kagome and Inuyasha travel from the present to the Sengoku Jidai and back.

Possessing a Dead Body: One species of demon known as Shibugarasu (or Dancing Corpse Crow), are able to bury into a victim's chest, devour their heart, and then possess the corpse to make it look like the victim is still alive.

Posthumous Character: Midoriko, the priestess who created the Shikon Jewel in the first place, by pushing her own soul out of her body.

Power at a Price: Sesshomaru's quest for power results in the loss of his arm and, later, the death of Rin (again). He achieves his true potential only thanks to this and the death of Kagura; the latter moves him to feel compassion for others and the former forces him to understand the irreplaceable value of life and the role that fear and sorrow must play in a warrior's life.

Power Dyes Your Hair: Inuyasha's hair turns black when he turns human. Of course, the disappearance of his doggy ears is a much bigger marker.

Power Incontinence: The Wind Tunnel it's like a miniature black hole in the palm of the bearer that sucks everything in front of it unless it's sealed by special prayer beads. Eventually, it will grow big enough to break the seal and consume the bearer and everything around him.

The Power of Friendship: Tessaiga is fueled by this it seems: Inuyasha says he will protect Kagome, Tessaiga transforms for the first time. He protects Miroku, it unleashes the Wind Scar for the first time. Prefers to protect his friends instead of getting a new technique, he gets the Kongousouha. Says he won't let Naraku keep hurting Miroku and Sango, he makes the Meidou Zangetsuha his.

Precocious Crush: 14 year-old Koharu developed a crush on Miroku after he helped her when she was 11.

Psycho for Hire: The Band of Seven were mercenaries who sold their services to lords.

Puppeteer Parasite: A salamander youkai had a whole village of women controlled by making them ingest its eggs.

Put on a Bus: Koga, twice. In the original anime, he disappears completely from the story after the Band of Seven arc. Oddly, he is featured in the opening of the last season, despite never appearing in the show itself. Then he leaves for good in Final Act, after Naraku steals his shards. He appears briefly in the epilogue, though.

The Quest: Travel through Japan to find all the Shikon shards and destroy Naraku.

Quirky Miniboss Squad: A number of these, including The Band of Seven, and Kanna and Kagura, sometimes with Kohaku, Hakudoshi, and / or Akago.

Rain of Blood: This happens in the manga when Inuyasha attacks a group of bandits while in his youkai form, he slices the bandits while leaping making their blood rain from above.

Razor Wind: Kagura's 'Dance of Blades' is, of course, with blades made of air.

Really 700 Years Old: Any given youkai is potentially much older than they appear, and this can possibly extend to their half-breed offspring as well. Some specific cases:

Sesshomaru confirms that Bokusenou is a two-thousand year old youkai magnolia tree.

Kirara, being a nekomata, falls under this as well; the anime even implies that she was Midoriko's companion, although she's much younger in the manga.

Inuyasha himself is a cipher - the third movie establishes him as about 200 years old, not counting his fifty-year-stasis, but the movies are not considered canon to the series - but even if he was just a teenager when Kikyo put him on ice, Sesshomaru's appearance has not changed even slightly during the fifty years that Inuyasha was sealed. (And the same movie that gives Inuyasha's age as 200 shows Sesshomaru looking only very slightly younger when Inuyasha was born, two hundred fifty years before the action of the series.) By extension, we may assume that Inu no Taisho and Sesshomaru's mother age at a similar rate.

Red Eyes, Take Warning: When the eyes of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha turn red it means they're going to transform into a giant dog and full demon respectively. Either way you should be running... fast.

After Tessaiga broke, Totosai reforged it with Inuyasha's own fang, which made the sword heavier. According to Totosai it means that Inuyasha now has to rely in his own strength instead of his father's.

Tenseiga is also reforged in order to activate Meidou Zangetsuha, triggered by Sesshomaru's emotionally bruised heart because of Kagura rather than the blade breaking. Later on, Tenseiga does break in battle but reforges itself.

Rescue Romance: Inuyasha rescues Kagome almost too many times to count. Also happens between Miroku and Sango, though this can go in either direction.

The Resolution Will Not Be Televised: The original anime ran for 167 episodes before it was taken off the air. The manga however kept going along, making the anime an example of this trope. However, years later, after the manga had ended, the anime was revived and given 26 episode to pick up where it left off and adapt the manga rest of the manga, which it did, finally wrapping up all the major plot points and giving an ending.

Restraining Bolt: Tessaiga prevents Inuyasha from becoming full demon and losing his mind in the process.

Resurrected for a Job: Kikyo was resurrected to go hunting for shikon shards for Urasue but she killed Urasue instead.

Resurrected Romance: After 50 years, Kikyo is resurrected and she and Inuyasha had to deal with their relationship issues where they were left off.

Revive Kills Zombie: More like "Killing 'Zombies' Revives". Tenseiga has the ability to cut the undead and the spirits from the underworld. By slaying the spirits that come to collect the soul of a dead person it revives said person.

Roof Hopping: There goes Inuyasha now, look at him go; boing boing boing. Heck, he roof hops without roofs, somehow managing to double jump his way across the country side, way above the height of most roofs. To quote Kagome's friends, "Kagome's boyfriend runs like he's flying."

Rope Bridge: Jaken and Rin are confronted by a villain in the middle of a rope bridge. In a subversion, the bridge breaks because Jaken's attempt to defend himself and Rin relies on fire which burns the ropes and breaks the bridge causing all three of them to plunge into the gorge below.

"Inuyasha... SIT!". Subverted more than once in the OVAs. In the 2nd, the command forces Inuyasha out of the path of Kaguya's attack. In the 3rd, just when it seems no force in the world can get Sou'unga to release him, he gets Sat with so much force that the beads explode!

"Would you like to bear my children?"

Myoga always makes his appearance known by sucking blood off Inuyasha's nose and getting squashed for it.

S-Z

Sadistic Choice: Kill an innocent little girl or the person you love the most will die. So, what are you going to choose Sango?

Scarily Competent Tracker: Inuyasha and Sesshomaru with their heightened sense of smell. Jaken may also be this as, no matter how often Sesshomaru leaves Jaken behind, Jaken always finds him again. How, is anyone's guess.

No matter his form, Naraku has a giant spider-shaped scar permanently on his back. In one episode he cuts off the flesh of his back to remove the scar only for the scar to immediately grow back in place.

Schizo Tech: Ginkotsu from the Band of Seven, a cyborg/tank in Feudal Japan.

Screw Destiny: One big theme in the series. Specially in the last battle which is against the Shikon Jewel itself.

Screw You, Elves!: Inuyasha delivers a rather impressive one to Sesshomaru; after the latter spends two or three episodes going off on how humans and half-demons are worthless, Inu not only slices Sesshomaru's arm off, but he also mocks Sesshomaru on how a mere half-demon got to inherit the Tessaiga.

Totosai. He knew from the start the truth about not only Tessaiga and Tenseiga, but Bakusaiga too.

Secret Test of Character: Occurs so often to be a running gag. Furthermore, the test is almost always to see whether you give a dang about your companions, and the hero will pass it halfway through a pitched battle:

At least half the time when Inuyasha gains a new ability.

Whenever Kikyo gets within eyeshot of Kagome.

Sango and Miroku when the former was getting Hiraikotsu repaired.

Koga when getting his claw weapon.

Sesshomaru's entire journey through the story turns out to have been this, a test he finally passes when he obtains Bakusaiga.

Self-Guarding Phlebotinum: The sword Tessaiga has a barrier around it that prevents demons from touching it. Humans and half-demons can touch it without pain, however.

Selfless Wish: Subverted in the backstory, where Naraku expects Kikyo to use the Jewel of Four Souls to save her life (she takes it with her into the afterlife instead). This sets up the ending, where Kagome and Inuyasha are trapped in the Jewel. Like Kikyo before her, Kagome doesn't make the selfish wish, but wished for the Jewel to cease to exist. She and Inuyasha get home safely anyway.

Shameful Strip: Kagome is knocked unconscious by the villain-of-the-week and wakes up naked in a big cooking pot. From the time Inuyasha rescues her until she retrieves her clothes, she wears his fire-rat-hair kimono.

Shapeshifter Default Form: Even though we know Naraku can take any form since that's the way he tricked Inuyasha, Kikyo and Miroku's grandfather, once he took Kagewaki Hitomi's identity he stayed with that appearance for the rest of the series.

She Will Come for Me: Kagome while inside the Shikon Jewel: "Inuyasha will come... I believe in him."

Ship Sinking: Both the anime and manga end with Kagome and Inuyasha as (finally) a clear Official Couple. Hasn't stopped the fans one bit.

Shipper on Deck: Kagome, who tries to get Miroku and Sango together at times. Kagome's family, Miroku, Sango and Shippo to Inuyasha and Kagome. In Chapter 343 (animated in Episode 167), Rin is quite up-beat and happy upon realising that Kagura is in love with Sesshomaru, to the extent where that realisation cures her fear of Kagura (earned as a result of Kagura having once kidnapped her on Naraku's orders).

Shock Collar: Inuyasha has a collar of enchanted prayer beads (or rosary) designed to make him hit the ground whenever Kagome says "Osuwari" or "Sit" / "Sit, boy". Kagome is an easily pissed off Tsundere Type B. Bad day for Inuyasha.

Shout-Out: In the first episode, after dropping the cat she went looking for, being sucked into a whirlwind (through the trap door at the bottom of the well), Kagome has just landed in some strange forest she does not recognize, and although she is alone, says out loud, "Toto, I don't think we're in Tokyo anymore!"

Sibling Rivalry: It's a ding-dong battle with Inuyasha and his older brother Sesshomaru who has daddy issues. It eventually gets resolved but not before it descends into a temporary period of Cain and Abel. Lampshaded in the manga itself when Inuyasha complains about two fighting brothers causing trouble for everyone and realises his True Companions are thinking he's talking about himself and Sesshomaru. When he claims it's all Sesshomaru's fault, Miroku observes that's exactly what a troublemaker would say.

Also, another episode involved Jaken being poisoned and Rin having to find a cure.

The Jinenji story is borne from Inuyasha and Kagome searching for a cure for Kirara, laid up after biting Naraku.

Sideways Smile: Sesshomaru sports a smile that goes from ear to ear and keeps growing as he transforms into his true form.

Single-Target Sexuality: The only women Inuyasha shows any interest in are Kikyo and Kagome. Since they are technically the same person, that makes it even more so.

Sins of Our Fathers: Miroku inherited the Wind Tunnel because his grandfather wanted to destroy Naraku. Also a lot of enemies Inuyasha and Sesshomaru encounter were enemies of their father.

Situational Sword: Tenseiga has the power to protect Sesshomaru from death - but it only kicks in if Sesshomaru sustains an injury that might potentially kill him without that protection. More specifically, Tenseiga's protection will always work on reflex when it senses that Sesshomaru is about to take a mortal blow from Tessaiga, this was naturally something his father had placed as a failsafe just in case the latter blade is turned on Sesshomaru (ensuring his two children can't maim each other using their heirlooms at the very least); or under extreme conditions it can trigger a barrier on its own (these activations are most definitely situational). It's also incapable of killing the living, but turns out to be capable of killing spirits, though later, it's shown to have one of the most power offensive abilities in the series - this was eventually meant to be passed on to Tessaiga and Inuyasha after Sesshomaru mastered the skill. After Sesshomaru passes the move on, Tenseiga is back to being a pure Healing Shiv.

Slipknot Ponytail: In the final battle, Sango's hair falls down when she and Kirara are bathed in Naraku's miasma and it eats away her hair tie.

Small Name, Big Ego: Jaken tries so, so hard to convince people to pay him the respect he believes he's due. It almost never works.

So Last Season: Inuyasha's numerous upgrades to Tessaiga generally quickly diminish in usefulness.

Spell My Name with an "S": Due to confusion regarding the small "tsu" character (which emphasizes the consonant that follows it), the official manga translation printed the name of Inuyasha's sword as "Tetsusaiga" instead of "Tessaiga." The error was perpetuated in the official subtitles and English dub (albeit pronounced as "Tetsaiga"), and the fandom continues to argue over which spelling is more correct. (For comparison, Sesshomaru's name also contains the small "tsu," but is never romanized as "Setsushoumaru.")

Spiritual Successor: Kamisama Kiss has a lot in common with this series. Both plots revolve around an ordinary teenage girl being given control over a supernatural Jerk Ass with a temper on a short fuse, who is subsequently forced to help and protect her. Tomoe, the male lead, looks almost exactly like an older and mature version of Inuyasha and their respective personalities are very similar to boot. Nanami, the female lead, also has most of Kagome's personality traits.

The first opening sequence featured Shippo, Miroku, and Sango, long before any of them appeared.

Not just the opening, but the first ending as well. The first ending focused on the main three female characters, Kagome, Kikyo and Sango. The problem is that Sango doesn't enter the story until episode 24, after the show has already moved to the second ending.

The Final Act opening spoilsthat Sesshomaru gets him arm back and gets a new sword, and that Inuyasha inherits Meido Zengetsuha, all of which happens well over halfway through the season.

Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The Band of Seven are accused of this, seeing how their quirkiness and competence is far more memorable, so much, that you forget Naraku is the real Big Bad

Stable Time Loop: Implicitly the case with the Cursed Noh Mask. Kagome meets it in the present day, and brings its shard back to the past to complete the Shikon Jewel... meaning that the original shard is still in the past, where it will become the Noh Mask, which Kagome will bring to the past, etc.

The Starscream: Hakudoushi, also the baby and Mouryoumaru. All three tried to take over from Naraku by betraying and defeating him.

Status Quo Is God: Sort of. Just remove the 540 chapters of filler. Joking aside, there was a ton of character development, but it just took its sweet time, and many times it felt like the story wasn't moving. Other parts didn't seem to add much, for example, considering how they both basically ended up disappearing by the end of the manga, and didn't really have much of a serious impact on the plot after their initial appearances, Takahashi could have probably ignored Houjo and killed off Koga after their first stories and not really changed the story notably. Hell, killing off Koga would have made a lot more sense than sparing him and it would have removed what is arguably Kagome's biggest scrappy moment in the series (which even she realizes was her fault).

Stealth Hi/Bye: Happens sometimes. One example is when Byakuya is messing with Inuyasha's group and they don't even know he's in the area. He decides to leave while he's ahead and suddenly discovers Sesshomaru looming out of nowhere behind him.

Stepford Smiler: Miroku tends to hide his troubles and worries with a smile and a grope.

The Stoic: Inuyasha at times because he's a brood machine. Although Sesshomaru's stoicism is somewhat exaggerated by the fanbase, he's still one of the most stoic of any manga or anime characters and is certainly the most stoic of this manga's cast. He is not unemotional, however, and there are plenty of occasions where he proves that he's actually Not So Stoic after all.

Storm of Blades: Tessaiga's Kongosoha, that throws a storm of sharp diamonds to the enemy.

The Wind Tunnel, but thanks to Fuel Meter of Power and Kryptonite Is Everywhere, Miroku can't use it too much. To elaborate: Miroku has what amounts to his own personal black hole in his hand, which he can use to suck any foe into oblivion. Early on in the series, Naraku begins using some poison bees that would kill Miroku if he sucked them in. This leads to nearly every episode having a scene where Miroku tries to use his world-breaking power, only for the bees to show up out of nowhere, forcing him to back off.

Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred: Naraku urges Sango to kill him while he's holding Rin in his arms. Of course this being Naraku, he's not really going to die since he's only an illusion, but Rin is real and if Sango strikes the girl will die, filling the Shikon Jewel with darkness.

Suck Out the Poison: Myoga, being a flea youkai, did this twice. Once when Inuyasha was poisoned during his human night, and once barely saving Kagome, Sango and Miroku, when they almost died from Mukotsu's poison.

Summon to Hand: Tessaiga has done this for Inuyasha a few times, although is more Summon to Scabbard.

Take Off Your Clothes: When he sees Kagome dressed as a miko, Inuyasha soon asks her to take off the outfit. To which Kagome respond with a rock to the head and calling him a pervert. But Inuyasha doesn't want to see her naked (yet); it's just that with the priestess garb, she looks too much like Kikyo and that makes him uncomfortable.

Taken for Granite: Miroku, Sango and Kirara were turned into glass in a filler episode.

In the manga: "You think you can defeat me with that lightning-fast attack you're doing right now? Fool! I am going to dodge it as soon as I finish explaining what's going on in this battle!"

The anime also features its fair share of exposition dumping during supposedly intense fights, which is either this or Mook Chivalry.

The Final Act anime also includes a lampshade hanging subversion. In her first battle after having the Hiraikotsu restored, Sango launches it at Naraku, who goes into a whole speech about how useless her weapon is on him...Only to be cut off mid-sentence by his upper-torso being turned into figgy pudding by the new aura-shattering powers of the Hiraikotsu.

Tear Off Your Face: In one arc, Naraku expels his heart, which takes the form of a naked faceless man, who proceeds to slay a whole bunch of bandits and rip off their faces, looking for a suitable one for him. Without them he's shown to be The Blank.

Teen Pregnancy: By the end of the story, Sango is about 19/20 years-old and already has three kids (two of them twins); however, this is justified since the setting is Feudal Japan.

Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Inuyasha and Kagome's early relationship. They spent just as much, if not even more, time, bickering with and insulting one another as they did fighting demons and collecting jewel shards, and by the time of the third episode, Kagome got so fed up with him that she promptly left to go home.

Thanatos Gambit: Naraku plans to take Kagome with him and replace the dueling souls inside the Shikon Jewel.

That Didn't Happen: Sango goes into complete denial after declaring that she prefers to die with Miroku than leave him and save herself: "Did I say something? What did I say?"

They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: On one occasion, Sango reflects that her father often told her that the most dangerous kinds of youkai are those than can take human form.

Attempted by Byakuya against Sesshomaru in chapter 523. It doesn't work.

Byakuya:[Summons a swarm of demons]Sesshomaru: You can't stop me with dozens of these demons. Byakuya: Oh, I know that. That's why I've summoned thousands of them. Sesshomaru:[Easily tears them apart]Byakuya:Maybe I should have gone for millions...

Timey-Wimey Ball: Not a big problem, since the "fighting bad guys" matter more than the time traveling, but for example, Kagome finds a jewel shard in the present. So that means it's also back in the Sengoku period, meaning the Shikon Jewel eventually comes up to complete plus one extra shard stuck in a tree somewhere. Souls also seem to transcend time in that Kikyo can't be reborn with her soul because it's already been reincarnated in someone else — someone else from the far future who hasn't been born yet, even if she happens to have will have travelled back in time.

Token Human: Rin is the only human in Sesshomaru's entourage until Kohaku starts traveling with him as well.

Took a Level in Badass: Kagome does manage to catch up and become a true Action Girl. She also develops from barely being able to fire a bow to making shots that are borderline impossible for trained archers in the real world.

Took a Level in Kindness: Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Koga, and Kagura all experience this at varying speeds and to varying degrees.

To Serve Man: Several Youkai feeds on humans/humans innards, but Tokajin the sennin takes the cake. Seriously toned down in the anime.

Toplessness from the Back: All main female characters. Subverted by Sango and Kagura since it's done to show the large scars they have on their backs.

Traumatic Superpower Awakening: After first being sent to the past, Kagome first becomes aware of the Shikon jewel inside her when attacked by a demon. Though the jewel is expelled, this incident results in her learning of her other latent powers.

Triang Relations: The Inuyasha/Kagome/Kikyo Triangle is closest to a Type 7 situation, where "Alice" is Inuyasha, and "Bob" and "Charlie" are Kagome and Kikyo who are rivals rather than having no interaction. Inuyasha was effectively engaged to Kikyo when she died and his relationship with Kagome was already well under way when Kikyo came back from the dead (shortly after Koga's entry into the storyline, Kagome and Inuyasha are a confirmed couple), making him honour-bound to both women and completely unable to choose between them. At one point he even admits to Miroku that he was hoping he could solve the problem by having them both (which would have been relatively common for a man in Japan's past, but modern-girl Kagome was definitely not thrilled by that suggestion). It doesn't help that Kagome is Kikyo reincarnated.

Trickster Twins: Miroku and Sango's twins seem to be growing up to be this. With that father it really isn't a surprise.

Treacherous Spirit Chase: Inuyasha nearly gets killed by a youkai disguised as his mother who has been dead since he was very young. If Kagome hadn't seen through the illusion and managed to convince Inuyasha that things weren't what they seemed to be, he would have died.

True Companions: Inuyasha's group becomes as such over the course of the series.

Tsundere: Kagome, though being a Tybe B aka more deredere she later mellows a bit. Inuyasha could count a bit as a male example, and Sango also has some flashes of Tsundere-ness despite being kind of a Yamato Nadeshiko.

The Unfair Sex: Kagome gets extremely jealous when Inuyasha has any kind of interaction with Kikyo, even if said interaction is nothing more than discussing about how to kill Naraku, and everyone showers her with sympathy. Inuyasha, on the other hand, gets jealous of Koga for flirting with Kagome, only to have everyone berate him for it. The difference is not entirely without basis - Inuyasha is genuinely torn between his feelings for Kikyo and Kagome, while Kagome has no romantic interest in Koga whatsoever - but it nevertheless comes across as an unfair Double Standard to many fans.

Unfazed Everyman: Kagome's mother, brother, and grandfather are totally unsurprised when they learn the well in their shrine is a time portal to the 15th century, as well as learning that supernatural demons exist and that Kagome has fallen in love with one. They also don't seem to be concerned about Kagome skipping school to go to a place where she nearly gets killed on a regular basis.

Unwanted Revival: Kikyo. She had chosen to die to follow Inuyasha and to take the Shikon Jewel with her to the afterlife, but things didn't quite go her way. She was not only reincarnated (along with the Shikon Jewel) but she was revived into a clay body.

The general public's treatment of demons and half-demons often borders on this. Case in point: in Jinenji's debut episode, he is automatically accused of attacking and eating people simply because he's a half-demon, and the villagers only discover the real culprit after they form an angry mob and burn his hut to the ground.

Another good example is in episode 162 with Ungai, a monk who is firmly convinced that all demons are bad to the extent that he openly declares Kagome, Miroku, and Sango, a miko, a monk, and a professional demon slayer respectively, hypocrites for even bothering to associate with Inuyasha, Shippo, and Kirara.

Victim of the Week: As with other fantasy stories, the main purpose of the villagers are to be either held hostage or brutally killed ten ways to Tuesday in order for the heroes to know just how bad the Monster of the Week is.

Weapon Wields You: Sesshomaru takes the fangs of one of Big Bad Naraku's previous incarnations to the swordsmith Kaijinbo, and commissions him to make a sword from it. He complies, but Tokijin, the resulting sword, takes over the will of anyone trying to wield it. In a display of how powerful Sesshomaru is, when he finally grips its hilt, it tries to work its mojo on him, and he No Sells it with barely a glance.

Welcome Back, Traitor: The group forgives Sango quite easily for betraying them (and almost getting everyone killed, herself included), after Naraku forces her to choose between doing what he says (steal Inuyasha's sword and give it to him) or letting a loved one (Kohaku) die. Even when she warns them she will do it again, they still forgive her.

What a Piece of Junk: Tessaiga when not transformed. Bonus points for Inuyasha saying this trope word for word in the sixth and seventh episodes.

It's explained that the reason Midoriko, the Miko sealed in the Shikon Jewel, was so powerful was because her heart bore a balanced and pure spirit of the "four souls": Aramitama, Nigimitama, Kushimitaka, and Sakamitama. That is, Courage, Friendship, Wisdom and Love.

An anime Villain of the Week reveals to Inuyasha and friends that other Shikon Jewels can be made if you can find four souls that strongly embody each of these four characteristics and seal them into a single gem with a Miko as the center. In fact, he attempts to defeat the group because Kagome (the Miko), Inuyasha (Courage), Shippo (Friendship), Miroku (Wisdom) and Sango (Love) are pefect candidates for this process.

This is the lesson Sesshomaru's entire journey through the manga leads him to learn.

Everyone kills demons without batting an eye, but they always try not to kill humans no matter how evil or despicable they are. Case in point: in Episode 51, Inuyasha succumbs to his Superpowered Evil Side and personally hunts down and slaughters Gatenmaru's henchmen; despite the fact that they were knowingly serving a demon and that they had personally fed innocent villagers to their demon boss For the Evulz while making him watch, he undergoes a complete My God, What Have I Done? moment as soon as he snaps out of it.

Furthermore, the anime will edit the more graphic deaths of humans from the manga while leaving gory demon deaths intact. One example of this is Bankotsu, who is ultimately defeated when Inuyasha cuts him in half, but the anime creates a backstory for Bankotsu's BFS that gave it demonic powers when it had slain 1000 humans and 1000 demons... just so Inuyasha could send back his attack with the Bakuryuuha, something Inuyasha in the manga had realized in frustration that he couldn't do because Bankotsu was a human with no demonic aura. Bankotsu loses the same amount of his body, but the attack allows for an explosion to conceal the damage with rubble, something which can't be achieved with bifurcation.

With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: When Inuyasha transforms into a full demon he gets incredible strength and resistance, but it's too much power for his half-human body to handle and he'll start to lose his sanity with each transformation until he'll end up being a mindless killing machine that will keep fighting until he destroys everyone around him or gets himself killed.

Would Hit a Girl: Inuyasha impaled Yura through her chest with his hand, Koga hit Kagura in the face and Miroku punched Sango (and other girls) to free her from a youkai in her stomach possessing her.

Would Hurt a Child: Naraku has no compunctions about doing any horrible thing to anyone, children included. Various other youkai such as Goshinki share his willingness to harm kids; even Koga has no issue with letting his wolves kill Rin during his first appearance (although his personality is considerably softened thereafter). Kagura may be a notable exception, given that she fails to do anything more serious than kidnapping Rin, and becomes quite protective of Kohaku. Thanks to a multiple personality disorder, Suikotsu flipped between being a gentle doctor who wouldn't hurt a fly to a homicidal maniac that was willing to include children in his body count.

Goshinki broke Tessaiga, breaking with it the seal on Inuyasha's youkai blood.

To save Miroku, Sango sacrificed Hiraikotsu spreading in it a very corrosive poison that succeeded in destroying the youkai they were fighting, dissolving the huge boomerang as well.

On the other hand, Sesshomaru didn't give a damn when Tokijin broke.

Honouring a promise to Inuyasha, Sesshomaru sacrifices his claim to both swords by deliberately shattering Tenseiga's blade against Tessaiga to pass on Meidou Zangetsuha. The broken Tenseiga responds to this by guiding the pair out of the danger they're in and promptly reforges itself. Sesshomaru can't get rid of this blade even when he tries.

Yamato Nadeshiko: Sango looks and acts the part... and that doesn't stop her from being an effective Action Girl, since her family's tradition is demon slaying. Also, Kikyo was quite the Yamato Nadeshiko before her death, and after mellowing out and losing her anger at the world, she develops back into a mix of one and the Dark Magical Girl she has become.

Yandere: Naraku/Onigumo, the original evil spirit of the Shikon Jewel, and, of course, Jakotsu.

Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Attempted with Kaede and the villagers in the early episodes of the dub, to fantastically Narmy results. Later on they just stopped trying, only Kaede continues to use it to an extent all through the dub, which is particularly jarring in episodes where Kikyo also appears, since she speaks perfectly normal English.

You Are Not Alone: After failing miserably at defeating Naraku and saving her brother plus having just betrayed her new companions, Sango tries to leave the group but the others don't let her telling her that being alone is not a solution and it's best if they all stay together.

Sango: I was really scared... I was scared that I'd be alone.

You Are Worth Hell: Sango prefers to stay and die with a poisoned Miroku than save herself while being chased and cornered by youkai. And in the final battle when the Wind Tunnel is about to consume him, she asks him to take her with him.

After getting heavily injured by Inuyasha and spared with the intention of freeing her from Naraku, he crushes Kanna's crystalline heart to blow her up in a last-ditch attempt to kill the protagonists. Naraku partly saw this as a Mercy Kill because of Kanna's condition by that point.

Once Hakudoshi starts gloating about betraying Naraku, the latter decides he's not worth protecting and abandons him to be killed.

You Must Be Cold: Inuyasha gives his fire-rat haori to Kagome several times throughout the series, most times because it's resistant to fire, poison and sharp things, but a few times because she's actually cold or to protect her modesty.

Youkai: Running around everywhere. Inuyasha himself is half dog youkai.

Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Just how many times do the heroes kill Naraku only to find that it wasn't enough to kill him for good or that the Naraku they killed was a puppet?

The goshinboku tree in the present, assimilated into the grounds of the Higurashi shrine, has a shimenawa around it. (Not so in the past, due to being farther from the village and generally avoided by the villagers.)

One chapter features some monkeys who trick Inuyasha into touching a small stone with a shimenawa around it, which sticks to his hand and becomes a huge boulder.

More generally, shimenawa are occasionally seen being used by monks or miko to set up a magical barrier or seal, such as the seal on the cave where Entei was trapped.

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